An Honest Letter To My Postpartum Body

For all of the other women still struggling to love their postpartum bodies.

Hey postpartum body.

I want to tell you that I love you but I just can't right now.

And if I am really honest with you I don't even like you much right now. I don't like your sagging breast or loose skin. I don't like your smug tiger stripes telling me to be proud of you. I don't like how all your hair fell out and how no hair style can hide it. I don't like how you lay awake all night unable to sleep while everyone else sleeps peacefully.

I don't like you.

I don't like how you can't run long distance now without stopping for a bathroom break. I don't like how tired and fatigue you always feel. I don't like your night sweats and anxiety. I don't like a lot of things about you.

But I do respect you.

The ability you gave me to carry a baby for 42 weeks is admirable. And that you birthed a perfect little person is the best gift you could have ever given me. I respect how strong you are and how you power through the fatigue and anxiety daily and adapt to the always changing situations of parenthood.

I respect you for all of that and so much more.

And though I may never be in love with how you have changed physically, I am in love with how you have changed in all other aspects.

I love your ability to find joy in the smallest things. And how you have learned to give and even receive unconditional love now. I love how motherhood has turned you into a nurturing and self-giving being that is no longer egocentric and self-promoting. I love how content you are with life and how happy you feel as a mother. I love how you have found yourself.

The day may never come when I can proudly say that I love your stretch marks but I can truly say that you are more beautiful now than you ever were before children.